Consumer Guide Album

Joe Cocker: Joe Cocker [A&M, 1972]
Not to be confused with 1969's classic Joe Cocker!, a distinction that gets at the difference quite nicely. It's said that Cocker's voice is gone, and I suppose that's true--it was never much less rough, but it was richer and more flexible. And the live "Do Right Woman" on side two is an overstated embarrassment. But the music on side one, with Chris Stainton providing the same old propulsion on piano as well as--hmm--collaborating with this supposed interpreter-only on some good-to-terrific songs, is as rollicking as ever, and the rest of side two is OK. The magic is gone, that's for sure, but maybe it's gone from us, not from him. B+